Why Genesis Scottish Open serial moaners are off the mark about venue's 'home'

By that time, the event will have been staged at the East Lothian venue for 12 consecutive years, which, to give it some perspective, is second only to Loch Lomond, where a tournament that started under another guise before becoming the Scottish Open was held for 15 years in a row from 1996.

After leaving Loch Lomond in 2010, it was held for three straight years at Castle Stuart near Inverness before the three partners at the time - DP World Tour, Scottish Government and title sponsor Aberdeen Standard Investments - came up with a plan to move the event around the country.

During that time, it was staged at Royal Aberdeen, Gullane, Castle Stuart, Dundonald Links then back to Gullane again and, yes, it was a good idea, especially as it gave fans all around the country a chance to see some of the world’s top players in action other than in The Open.

At that time, people were calling for the likes of Carnoustie, Royal Troon and even North Berwick and Royal Dornoch to be added into the mix, but there are a number of reasons why The Renaissance Club, an American-owned venue, has, much to the disappointment and even disgust of some, become its ‘home’ since 2019.

For starters, it’s not as straightforward as some people think for venues to give up a course for a full week and, in the case of Gullane, it involved two courses due to a composite layout being used when the event was staged there in 2015 and 2018.

In contrast, The Renaissance Club doesn’t have the same amount of traffic on it and that is one reason why a Rolex Series event that is now part of both the DP World Tour and PGA Tour schedules is being held there for the eighth year running this summer and a four-year extension has been announced.

When your next door neighbour is Muirfield and you also have North Berwick and Gullane close by, it’s inevitable that comparisons are going to be made in terms of the actual golf course and that is probably the biggest gripe some people have about The Renaissance Club.

I have to say, though, that it is getting a bit tiring because the Tom Doak-designed course is a totally different test now to the one that the players faced for the first time. It’s bedded in, looks a lot better than it did at the start and also plays more linksy with each passing year.

The fact last year’s event attracted record Scottish Open crowds of just under 89,000 spoke for itself, as does the fact the event once again boasted the fifth-strongest field in golf in 2025 and that includes the majors.

The players like The Renaissance Club as a pre-Open week venue. It’s got top-class practice facilities and fabulous on-site accommodation, as does Archerfield Links next door. In short, it’s a hassle-free week.

Yes, we’ll get more moans no doubt when the latest edition on 9-12 July comes around, but, with all due respect to other venues around the country, why should you try and change something that clearly isn’t broken?